Mountains of E-Work | How to Better Manage Healthcare Workflow

Technological advances aim to make our lives easier, but sometimes our main applications of technology as healthcare professionals – like filing, storing, and documenting data – seem to get more complicated each passing year. At work, medical providers certainly face challenging amounts of documentation that impede healthcare workflow—or should we say overflow?

At this year’s ACC.14, we’ll be talking about the challenges and strategies around managing healthcare workflow . We know it’s a concern.

““[The] world of health care delivery feels more frenetic than ever,” says Westby Fisher, M.D., F.A.C.C., in his blog. “The in-basket messages, the mountains of results, the re-scheduled patients on top of those already scheduled, the seemingly endless phone and e-mail messages, the late-night consults after a full day of procedures—all demanding time—it’s bordering on crazy.”

Ever-changing regulatory and quality initiatives mean that healthcare professionals are burdened with mounting amounts of required electronic paperwork. Whether it’s the transition to ICD-10 or Physician Quality Reporting Initiatives from CMS, the name of the game seems to be documentation, documentation, documentation.

“Information flies so fast and there’s so much of it that it’s getting almost impossible for doctors to keep up with the screen responsibilities, not to mention their care responsibilities,” says Fisher.

Companies are working hard to come up with solutions that help improve healthcare workflow and allow providers to focus more on patient care. For example, a Qualitative Intelligence and Communication System (QICS™) helps simplify diagnostic imaging workflow, expedite communications and support efforts to improve patient safety.

QICS, which is a web-based technology, carries out multiple functions. That includes analyzing data, engaging and alerting users when appropriate, and facilitating workflow throughout the exam life cycle. It enables inter- and intra-departmental communications and workflow processes, including communications about critical results.

Bill Muhr, president and CEO of South Jersey Radiology Associates, uses McKesson QICS to support a better workflow at his organization. His group was looking at a way to implement professional quality measurements without interfering with radiologists’ workflow. “[QICS] seamlessly integrated with our PACS system and … allowed radiologists to capture the data as they were doing their workflow,” says Muhr.

And don’t think that QICS is exclusively for radiologists—here at McKesson we recently launched our QICS for Cardiology. QICS for Cardiology gives you the flexibility to choose from several best-practice models and customize them to fit your department’s needs. It’s designed to create a standard, consistent process with configurable worklist and workflow screens.

We’re listening to healthcare providers’ frustrations as they face mountains of e-paperwork. A QICS can tie together a number of systems into one that is cohesive, optimizes workflow and allows providers to fulfill regulatory demands.

What strategies help you manage your workflow? Let’s talk about them at McKesson Booth #1128 ACC.14! Visit our web site to schedule a demo.